


Ash and Dust

by Breyito



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angry Tony Stark, Angst, Avengers: Endgame AU, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt Tony Stark, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Threats of Violence, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 15:24:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17603888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Breyito/pseuds/Breyito
Summary: All Tony wanted after reversing the Snap and losing his goddamn arm was to see Peter whole and happy again.But the Universe always screws him up.(And this time he has someone to blame).





	Ash and Dust

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! It's been a fucking long time since I last wrote something; and as usual, I bring you Angst. I came up with this idea after I watched the Engame trailer, but it has no spoilers. I almost made myself cry over this, tbh. It's not _that_ sad; but I really put myself in Tony's place and well...  
> This is a darker Tony, because... well, you'll see. But don't hold it against him!  
> Also, I adore Stephen, I do! My new otp is IronStrange and one of my fav things to read is SupremeFamily; but there's absolutely _nothing_ of that here. Strange, in Tony's eyes, is the one who ruined his life in this, and he is _angry_ ; so if that bothers you don't read, please.  
> This was written fast and it's not betaed, so if you see any mistakes please let me know.  
> Hope you like it!!!

When ashes begin to gather together, and people started to form out of thin air, Tony knew they had done it. They had won. Thanos was no more and the people he had killed on the Snap were back.

Breathing hard through broken ribs, he finally unclenched his left hand. The moment his fist opened, the gleaming Uru metal started to fall apart; burning his arm as it disintegrated, the skin turning black. The sharp pain started to go up and up his left arm, and the muscles became  unresponsive as the trauma settled in. He fell on his backside on the ground, gasping. He watched from side to side, taking in the people rejoicing, crying in each other’s arms. Children coming out of buildings and running towards their parents; adults and teens and elderly people embracing and kissing each other. Everybody was busy looking for their loved ones, and for once, he was invisible to their eyes.

But Rhodey immediately noticed him and walked through the crowd towards him to help. He left the armor dissolve and used its nanobots to cut the blood flow a few inches below his shoulder, making a tourniquet as tight as the bots could. Rhodey winced and murmured something about Tony probably losing his arm.

Tony though, paid it no mind. He was looking everywhere, trying to see Quill or Strange, the bug girl or the tattooed giant, someone, anyone that was with him on Titan. He needed to find his kid. Then it dawned on him.

Somehow, the possibility of people re-appearing where they had been when the Snap happened hadn’t occurred to him. How could that have  _slipped his mind_? God, he needed to find Rockett, he needed to plan for the space trip, he needed supplies and a time-line and medical personnel probably; because there was  _nothing_ on Titan, nothing people could  _live from_. The others would be hungry and thirsty when they got there, but Peter…Peter would be malnourished,  _famished_  by the time they arrived. Stumbling he got to his feet, grabbing Rhodey’s shoulder for support.

“Rockett…Rockett” he mumbled.

“What?” Rhodey asked, baffled.

“Wher-where is he? We need to get to a ship, we, we need to get to Titan, we-”

“Tony, what are you talking about? You need a hospital right now; you’re not leaving the  _planet_. We won, there’s no reason to-”

“No no no no, you don’t  _get it._  Peter is not  _here_ , Quill and Strange and the others are not here, we need to get them  _back_ -” he said frantically, trying to push through the droves of people around them.

“Tony. Tony!” Rhodey yelled, stopping him. “Rockett is over there, and all of the Guardians seem to be here.” He explained, pointing at the group on the steps of a bank. When the engineer started to stumble towards them Rhodey stepped forward to help him, pushing gently but firmly at the multitude of humans that were still trying to get to their families and/or wanted to thank them. When they finally made it to the Guardians, Tony was panting, ashen and sweating; he had started to develop a fever.

“Rockett! Quill! Strange!” He yelled, desperate, climbing the stairs. The three males looked at him and took him in, wincing at his state. “Where’s Peter?” he asked, looking around, like he was expecting to find the boy hiding behind a potted plant or something.

“Peter is here, Man of Iron-” Drax started, when the Quill stepped forward and shushed them. He still had his arm around the green woman ( _Gamora_ , his mind supplied,  _daughter of Thanos, sacrifice for the Soul Stone_ ). He didn’t pay her attention.

“I don’t know, Stark. He was just with us in the orange world, and then we started to disappear again and showed up here and we haven’t seen him since.”

Tony turned and started looking again, now that he had a higher ground he could see more and hoped the shine of the red and gold armor would catch his eye.

“Wait.” Rhodey said to them. “You’re Gamora, right? How come you’re not dead? I mean, I’m glad you are not, but Thanos killed you, didn’t he? To use the Soul Stone?”

“Yes, he did. But when you reversed the Snap, the Stone released me.” Gamora said, relieved. “I must thank you for that.”

“That’s good; and there’s no need, really. We did what we had to do.” Rhodey answered, still with an eye on his best friend. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and the pain would become unbearable soon enough. “But we are looking for Peter. Or Spider-Man. Can you remember anything else?”

“You were the last to talk to him, Strange. Did he said anything to you?” Gamora asked, taking in the worry in Starks’ face, the dead left arm dangling from his side and the sorrow in the wizard’s eyes.

Tony’s eyes found the doctor and he closed the distance between them, a bit of hope back in his eyes.

“You know where he is?” he asked, breathless. When the other man only swallowed, he went a little paler still. “Strange. Tell me!  _Do you know where he is?_ ” he repeated, angry.

“I-” Strange started, but stopped and swallowed again. “I’m sorry.” he whispered, eyes full of pity.

“What-? Why? No, no, you all came back, why isn’t he here?” Tony demanded, voice hard. The wizard opened his mouth, but no words came out.

“The Stones, they…they demand a sacrifice, to use them.” Gamora answered, when the pause grew too long and Tony’s body started to tremble with fury and fear. “I was Thanos’ sacrifice and I think this boy was you-”

“No! No, that’s not possible. No no no no.” Tony denied, tears running down his face. “I never- I would never _trade him_ -”

“It doesn’t matter. He was already in the Soul World. The Stone only prohibited his scape.” she said, voice tight.

A few curses could be heard from the rest of the Guardians, but Dr. Strange remained silent. The engineer’s knees gave out, and Rhodes’ was barely able to lower him gently to the floor before he fell and injured himself worse.

On his knees on the floor, Tony Stark sobbed. He wailed and whimpered, his right arm around his stomach, in a pantomime of a hug, offering no comfort at all. He kept mumbling Peter’s name, voice raw and small. Rhodey was paralyzed, completely lost. Not even after his parents’ deaths or Jarvis’ or JARVIS’ deaths (heck, not even after Siberia and finding out the truth about his mom’s murder) he had seen his best friend like that. He looked like a wounded animal, like if a well aimed blow could finally shatter him to pieces and scatter him through the winds.

The stairs were in complete silence, no one dared to say a word, everyone present witnessing the terrible distress and trying to pay their respects by not intruding.

“I’m sorry.”

The whisper was barely audible; and it took Tony a few seconds to find where it had come from. He realized it was Strange who said it when he saw his face: pity, sorrow and shame were plainly written all over him. It only took him another few seconds to make sense of the clues in front of him. He went still, and then he got up.

“You-” he coughed, then swallowed to give his parched throat enough moisture to form words. “You knew.” A hysterical laugh exploded from within him, and he threw his head back as the peals of laughter ended with tears running down his cheeks. He looked at Strange in the eyes to continue talking. “Of fucking course you knew. There was only one path in which we won, wasn’t it?  _This one_. The one you  _chose_. The one you put in motion.”

“Stark-”

“You knew, since the moment you opened your eyes back in Titan that this would happen, didn’t you?”

“St-”

“You knew he would turn to ashes in front of me, you knew he would  _suffer_ and  _apologize_ because he couldn’t stop it and you knew I would do  _anything_ to reverse it.” His breathing became more and more agitated, his eyes became colder and angrier and his right hand shook as he continued to talk until his words turned into screams. ”You knew I would find a way to defeat Thanos and undo the Snap just to bring my kid  _back_ and that it would be completely  _useless_ because he would stay there, trapped forever and  _alone_!”

“Tony-” when Rhodey tried to grab his shoulder he shook him off, not caring about anything but the man in front of him.

“Stark, I’m sorry, but it was the only way.” Despite the sorrow in his voice, the doctor didn’t lower his eyes, and they stayed resolute. His head was held high, and from his posture it was clear that he didn’t regret the decisions he made. And that he would make them again. “Trillions of lives were at stake-”

“You could’ve warned me!”

“And risk you making the wrong choice? Wait for you  _not to_  choose him? You would have tried to find another way, and there  _wasn’t one_! He wasn’t worth it.”

“Wasn’t- wasn’t worth it?” he spat, before his right fist pummeled on the wizards’ face. The doctor was taken by surprise and ended on his back on the floor. Tony threw himself over him, knees pressing hard on his chest to not let him breath; and started hitting him again and again, right fist connecting with cheeks and teeth and nose and eyebrows. “You  _bastard_!” fist “ _Piece of shit!_ ” fist “ _I hate you, I hate you I HATE YOU!”_

When Rhodey shook off his shock he jumped to grab his friend and lift him; but Tony just buried his knees deeper into the doctors’ chest, and kept throwing punch after punch. When Gamora joined Rhodes and they started to ease him back Tony grabbed Strange by the neck, holding onto his robes.

“I will  _end you!_ ” he promised with a snarl on his face. The doctor smiled through his bloody teeth and lifted his shattered hands.

“What could you…do that is worse….than this was…?”he asked between blissful mouthfuls of air. Tony’s eyes  _gleamed_ as he dragged the doctor’s face even closer, until he was almost hissing on his ear.

“I will find each and everyperson you  _remotely care about_  and I will  _destroy_ them.” He swore, watching with glee as Strange’s already pale face became vaguely green. “I’ll tear them apart  _piece by piece_ , until they are turned to ashes, and I’ll make sure they know it’s  _your_ fault and _hate you_  for it. And then I will watch as you crumble bit by bit, until you are nothing but dust in the wind.” With that, Tony threw Strange back to the floor with all the strength he had, relishing the sound the skull made when it hit the concrete. The last thing Tony saw before Rhodey injected him with sedatives was those blue eyes filled with the same terror he saw in Peter’s; and he closed his eyes knowing at least he wouldn’t be the only one having nightmares anymore.

—{}—

—{}—

—{}—

When Tony woke up he was in a hospital room. Probably somewhere in the city, not in the Compound, because he hated white walls on his properties. With a glance he took the room in. He noticed his missing left arm and the bandages around his torso and tight with little interest. Making sure he was alone, he lifted his hand and activated the nano-comm he had implanted in his ear.

“FRIDAY, my girl, are you there?”

“ _Yes, boss, of course. What do you want me to do?_ ”

“I want you to wake up KAREN from her backup servers. We have a revenge to plan.”

“ _Done. And now?_ ”

“Let’s start with Dr. Christine Palmer.”

**Author's Note:**

> Did you like it? Did it make you mad? Made you cry? Let me know!! Leave a kudos, a comment or find me on my [tumblr!](https://breyito.tumblr.com/)  
> I have a LOT of headcanons and ideas about this AU, so come ask me!  
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Kisses


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